The latest obsession

We've been living with the Thomas / Toby / Rosie / Percy obsession for quite some time now but these last few days have seen a disturbing, and definitely nerdy extension to this obsession. We're accustomed to bringing home books on trains from the library and just recently Leah's been very taken with the railroad (railway) crossing signal.

'What's dat?' she shouted last night in bed pointing at the book and then looking up at me expectantly. I explain that it's a railroad crossing and that it's to stop the cars from crossing the road when the train goes by. 'Ray-road cwossin?' she repeats. 'Yes Leah, a railroad crossing.' To help her understanding I used my arms to mimic the barriers coming down while 'ding ding dinging' for added effect, then used Rosie to demonstrate the train going by and then 'ding ding dinged' as the barriers / my arms came back up. Leah was rapt!! 'Gain, gain' she yelled absolutely delighted...10 MORE TIMES!!! By the end of it Leah was raising her arms up and down and dinging and 'Rosie go by' and clearly having a whale of a time.

I managed, with a huge amount of protesting, to extract myself from her room and hoped that she'd think no more about it but of course first thing this morning she wanted me to continue with the demonstrations. Enter You Tube. What a fantastic invention. Within seconds I'd found a video that perfectly illustrated what we'd been discussing complete with 'Thomas' - she could not have been happier.

So ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Strasburg Railroad - #475 and #90:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAFdLEoNR5s

For a special treat, click on 2GUNBOY's comments under the video to learn more about the type of signal lights that are used at this particular crossing.